One recent method for therapy of myocardial infarction involves transplantation of a sheet-like cell culture as a biological graft (which is a tissue obtained by cultivation of the patient's own cells) to the affected part. The sheet-like cell culture needs a skilful maneuver to take it out of the culture dish and transfer it to the affected part, because it is a fragile thin film and it quite easily sticks to itself on account of its water content. Thus, its transfer needs a special instrument.
One transferring instruments has a hollow outer cylinder and a sliding member slidably installed therein, the sliding member being provided with a flat flexible sheet-supporting member at the forward end of the sliding member. The sheet-supporting member is installed in such a way that it is held in the outer cylinder as the sliding member is moved relative to the outer cylinder. The transferring instrument works in such a way that the sheet-supporting member has a sheet-like cell culture placed thereon while it is outside the outer cylinder, and it is retracted so that the sheet-like cell culture is taken in the outer cylinder. Then, the forward end of the outer cylinder is moved to a position close to the affected part and the sliding member is pushed forward so that the sheet-like cell culture is transplanted to the affected part. An example of this instrument is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2009-511.
The transferring instrument mentioned above is capable of transferring a sheet-like cell culture. Nevertheless, it would be desirable to provide an improved instrument which is configured to facilitate mounting a sheet-like cell culture.